Chương 168: Chapter 163

They stood in the shadow of an alcove, overlooking the small plaza before the building they had spent the last week in-game buying, cleaning, repairing, and building up into a temporary guild hall. Their permanent one was going to be the entire city that Lara was planning to build, but for now a simple few-story-high building in Ironwood, not far from the company headquarters, would be the home to their new guild.

Adam was standing on a stage, clad in armor shined to perfection, behind him several guild officers who followed him from Gladerest. Around the stage was a middle-sized crowd. Mostly people from all around the area showed up. They didn't want to overwhelm the rudimentary security system they had set up. Thus, they only advertised around the city and left the forums for later. This amount of people would be enough to see how the system they set up for the guild would function and where they would need to improve.

Tim was also about, spreading all sorts of rumors about the guild vault, discounts, and whatnot. Sam was looking for the eventual teeth gnashing and lamentations. As he looked over the slowly gathering crowd, he spotted a few people – all of them very beautiful – speaking into the air. Reporters. AFK Company was big in Ironwood and its surroundings, but not many people knew that they were behind the Heavenly Forest, so he hadn't expected much turnout from the press.

Next to him stood his party as they watched as Adam walked forward to the podium and the crowd fell silent. Sam had to admire the man's sheer presence.

"Welcome! Welcome, everybody!" Adam started out loud and instantly even the last straying eyes zeroed on in his hulking form.

"I'm here to announce that today we are starting a new journey. With the help of friends, I'm here to declare that a new guild is going to be calling this place, this city, their home. And I'm also glad to announce that our doors shall be open to anybody who wishes to join us!" Immediately, a low-level buzz enveloped the plaza as people began to converse in excitement. A new guild always created a buzz, as they used all sorts of tactics to get people to join.

A lot of people simply joined every new guild, used their recruitment freebies until they were revoked then left, only to join the next newest guild. A good living for now, but Sam knew that most guilds kept a list that held the names of the 'guild-surfers' and if they changed their mind they would only be let back in if they brought something very valuable with them. Or paid a lot of money… Thankfully, Lucy was rather diligent and did her research, so they were ready for the influx of guild-surfers and grifters.

The spies were Tim's duty and the bowtie-wearing man was rather excited to flex his counter-espionage skills. Isabella was mostly happy that she wasn't leading the guild while Katie and Clarissa were cooly indifferent. Clarissa was happy as long as her pay was coming and she was working with competent people who actually listened to the healer. Dan was nervous for his girlfriend and was mostly fretting around.

Liz was also present somewhere, far from the group, so that nobody would think they were connected, but according to the crafter she was also very excited to work with this many people. There would finally be enough people to do some large-scale experiments with her inventions. Lara also looked indifferent but seeing her and Dan talking before the event began, Sam knew that even if she looked unflappable, she was pretty nervous.

Sam was just happy that his plans were progressing pretty nicely and that while the minutiae of his future knowledge was pretty useless at this point thanks to the butterflies he had introduced, the major things were still more or less on track. Meanwhile, Adam continued his speech.

"Recruitment starts tomorrow bright and early, so those who wish to give it a try can find us here, in the building behind me," he explained, then briefly pointed at the building which had a prominent spot covered by a cloth.

"But be warned!" he suddenly exclaimed loudly, causing a lot of people to jump in fright.

"We have a very exacting and rigorous test for those who want to join our new guild!" The crowd tittered politely, not taking his words seriously. Basically every guild said the same thing, and the only thing they asked when people went to join up was if they were alive or not. Some, not even that…

'Oh, boy, are they in for a surprise…' Sam chortled to himself as he watched the smug looks on the crowds' faces. Then a brief lull and a yell from somewhere in the throng of people.

"What's the name?" Everybody perked up again, and Sam had to hide another snort. It was such an old trick… Adam smiled, and Sam could see several ladies, both NPC and players, swoon. He was mature enough that he could admit that he was a little jealous of that.

"Of course, how forgetful of me…" he said with a small smile, then turned halfway, raising his hand toward the cloth covering on the building wall and waited for three breaths, and on an invisible signal the cloth fell and he spoke.

"Please welcome the guild, Chrysalis!" The cloth fell, and the sign appeared under it. Simply stylized letters and behind them an abstract representation of a butterfly chrysalis. Sam and the others felt that it fit the people who founded the guild. After all, it represented freedom, transformation, and the cycle of life. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. There was a polite applause and several reporters stepped forward to ask questions.

Already knowing what Adam would be saying as they went over the extensive information during their meetings while the building was prepared Sam stepped away and headed for the headquarters. Apparently, Lucy wanted to talk about something… He found himself sitting in Lucy's office as she glared at her paperwork, while her shadowy and clawed familiar glared at Sam with bloody red eyes. It was rather disconcerting…

"So, what did you want?" Lucy looked up from her paperwork.

"I need you to go back to the capital and do your… magic," she said while vaguely wiggling her fingers.

"Magic?" he asked bemusedly.

"Yeah, magic. I don't know how you got the properties, but a lot of people are unhappy. And not just the players."

"Hmm… any of the guilds are causing trouble?" Lucy just smirked evilly.

"Well, they are trying. It's rather cute…"

"Then…?"

"It's the NPCs that are annoying…" she admitted with a frown.

"The nobles don't really care, we're too small fries, plus neither of us have titles."

"Merchants?"

"Yeah…" Sam closed his eyes, fell silent, and thought about it. Nowhere could help him with it but they would either laugh into his face or demand some outrageous price. No. If he wanted this taken care of, then he needed to do it on his own.

'Hey, weren't there rumors that a bunch of demons used the harbor in the capital to smuggle drugs in to try to destabilize things?' he mused, as a sudden memory came to the forefront. Sadly, it was just the rumor that the other Sam had heard, as he wasn't really on a level where he could do quests in the capital.

'Plus, the government probably suppressed the news to avoid panic and to not look bad. Mostly for the second one, I suspect.' Opening his eyes, Sam looked up and saw Lucy had returned to her work. He cleared his throat and waited until Lucy looked up.

"I think I can sniff around and do a little this and that to discourage people from annoying us…" Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"This and that? Are you going to give them something to worry about or solve issues that nobody but you know about and have them turn into your best friends?" Apparently, he was becoming predictable.

"Hoping for the second, planning for the first." Lucy scrutinized him for a second, then sighed.

"As long as you don't start a rebellion…"

"That's the spirit!"

"I hate you…" They left the city of Ironwood behind with a large line forming in front of the new guild hall, Sam riding on Lucky as the giant wolf rode over the road, charging around people, flipping skirts, and casting dust in eyes. The rest of the team would follow him to the capital after they helped around a little, with the guild recruitment allowing Sam to sneak around a little. He arrived in the city sometime later, with the sun already going down.

He entered the city in disguise, then took a rather convoluted way to enter the headquarters of Nowhere with the help of his mysterious badge on the enchanted compass. Sam simply checked in to see if they had anything for him, but he was politely informed that first, he had to prove himself further before they would trust him with anything more dangerous than hunting down dust bunnies.

However, he made sure to take a small detour in the library to check a few things, mostly to have an excuse to reveal hidden information after 'he put it together' and to satisfy his own curiosity. Then, after making sure to avoid the old lady, he left Nowhere on an entirely different route, and found himself somewhere in the middle of the capital city. All around him, the crowd moved to and fro, entirely ignoring him. However, compared to the last time he was there, Sam saw many more players.

They were mostly looking around with a glum look on their faces as the prices in the capital were much higher than in other cities. There were a few players with their own followers strutting around, no doubt enjoying the fact that they could spend real-life money to purchase gold. He saw a few notorious and famous guild signs but didn't recognize anyone.

Instead, he entered the nearest alley, and half an hour later, he emerged from a very different alley dressed entirely differently and wearing a newly created face. He spent some time walking around, pretending to be window shopping then ducked into the nearest alcove and pulled up his hood, obscuring his face, but 'badly'. It would allow people to give descriptions and, in turn, would give him another layer of protection.

Back in Deepanchor, thanks to the revitalized Morrison family, he could have just gone to them and had a full dossier on the malcontents who were trying to disrupt their business, but here in the capital, he was pretty much fangless.

'Well, that's nothing that a little derring-do and sneaking around can't fix…' he mused to himself as he swept through the darkening streets of Vividora with a stealthy swirl of his cloak. Lucy was pretty thorough. That's why Sam had a pretty good starting point. One of the warehouses was next to several others, as they are wont to do, and those belonged to a wealthy merchant called Halisen, who, according to Lucy's research, had been wanting to buy up the warehouse that Sam laid his hands on.

And as he stood in the shadows of the corner of a small intersection, he could understand why. His warehouse was much bigger than several of its neighbors.

'Well, we know why he is angry… now let's see if we can do something about it." However, before he could head away, he spotted some movement on the other side of the warehouse. Within two blinks he was enveloped in shadows, concealing himself from sight, and thanks to the wind he was up on the roofs, running toward the suspicious movement. From his vantage point, perched on the edge of the roof, he saw a suspiciously dressed group of people wielding all manner of tools.

They ranged from giant hammers to wrenches, with one of them wielding an odd-looking plier. All of them wore cloaks, hiding their faces but not the simple and faded clothing under them.

'Thugs…' Instantly, he raised a hand and silently began weaving his magic, casting illusionary runes around the group to cut off any escaping noises while he dealt with them, adding a little something to capture any runners. The warehouse district was patrolled so any sound of fighting would call over the guards immediately, and he wanted to prevent that to be able to spend some time speaking with his new friends.

He watched as the thugs gathered up near one of the side doors to the warehouse and appeared to discuss something. Silently dropping to the ground using the wind to swallow any noise he would make, he crept behind them.

"…and I'm sayin' we need to start inside," one of them said in a hushed voice.

"Why tho?" asked another, not looking particularly smart."'Coz that way we have more time before the guards come!" came the report.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Sam asked in a similar voice standing behind the group. The apparent leader just scowled but didn't turn around.

"'Coz we got paid for it, dumbfuck."

"Huh… yeah, that makes sense…" Sam answered, inwardly cackling. Several others nodded as if reassured.

"Of course it makes sense, ya idiot!" exclaimed the leader and whirled around, no doubt to berate the speaker.

"You know the big man offe…re.. d…" he slowly stopped talking as his eyes widened when he spotted Sam just standing there with a smile on his face. Sam waved.

"Hi! We need to talk!"

"KILL HIM!"